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Verizon Announces HomeFusion Through 4G LTE, Home Internet With A Data Cap

We all love 4G LTE in our phones (except when it drains our batteries) but how about 4G providing your home internet? Verizon is looking to use the muscle behind its 4G network to start providing homes with internet through their new HomeFusion service. For $59.99 you get access to 10GB of data per month, after a $199.99 equipment fee; but they throw in installation for free!

Verizon says that customers can expect somewhere around 5 to 12Mbps down and 2 to 5Mbps up on this connection. The equipment can connect 4 devices wired and up to 10 wirelessly through the modem that connects to a Verizon 4G antenna. This service is going to launch first in Birmingham, Ala., Dallas, Tex. and Nashville, Tenn. but we can expect to see Verizon rolling this out to more LTE markets before the end of the year. This looks to be more of a competitor to DSL but the thought of data capping home internet isn’t too appealing. Anyone see this as a viable replacement for their home internet?

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless today introduced HomeFusion Broadband: a new service that provides high-speed in-home Internet access using the power and speed of the nation’s largest 4G LTE network. The solution will offer households in areas with limited broadband options a reliable alternative for data connectivity in their homes.

“HomeFusion Broadband is just one of the new products and services that is made possible with our 4G LTE network,” said Tami Erwin, vice president and chief marketing officer, Verizon Wireless. “Customers want to connect more and more devices in their homes to the Internet, and HomeFusion Broadband gives them a simple, fast and effective way to bring the most advanced wireless connection from Verizon into their homes.”

The 4G LTE network is efficiently delivered to an antenna which transmits the signal to a broadband router inside the home. The cylinder-shaped antenna is professionally installed at the customer’s home, and the product’s innovative design includes multiple internal antennae allowing the device to pick up Verizon’s 4G LTE signal. The broadband router can connect up to four wired and at least 20 wireless devices inside the home using Wi-Fi, including everything from computers to gaming consoles.

HomeFusion Broadband will be available beginning later this month in Birmingham, Ala., Dallas and Nashville, Tenn., with additional markets to follow. Verizon Wireless is working with Asurion, a trusted leader in consumer technology protection services, for installation.

Customers can choose several usage-based plans, beginning at $59.99 monthly access for 10 GB of data, specifically designed for HomeFusion Broadband. A one-time equipment fee of $199.99 applies, and installation is free.

Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network now covers more than 200 million people in the United States. In real-world, fully loaded network environments, Verizon Wireless 4G LTE customers, including HomeFusion Broadband customers, should experience average data rates of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink.
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves nearly 108 million total wireless connections, including 92.2 million retail customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with nearly 82,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

wow this is retarded, might be better in a few of the areas where the only other option is satellite I guess though.

Adam Siekmann

Imagine what this will do to your power bill considering it drains phone batteries!

Deltaechoe

/facedesk

http://www.vgchartz.com SuperChunk

Wow… that is pathetic. If they really want to get into home usage they either need to really drop the price and/or dramatically increase the data cap. I will never leave unlimited cable connection unless I’m forced to.

http://twitter.com/FactsSchmacts Facts Schmacts

That’s the POINT! You have access to cable. This is for people who don’t have that choice. Damn…

http://www.vgchartz.com SuperChunk

If you don’t have cable or dsl access, you almost certainly won’t have 4GLTE access. Damn…

duke69111

What a joke. For $50.00 I get 18mb down and 6+ mb up guaranteed from Cox Communications. I think it has a 200gb or 250gb cap.

This may only be reasonable for people in rural areas, if they ever get 4g, where cable or dsl is not available. But would still be very expensive.

Rory W.

I live in a rural area where my only option is satellite internet (no cable, no DSL). I currently pay $69.95 per month for 1.0 Mbps download and 200 Kbps upload with a 12GB data cap. So, for $10 less, I could get at least 5 times faster speed, the trade off being a 16% lower data cap.

Rory W.

Oh, and the $199 equipment fee is for a Verizon 4G antenna that they mount to your house, not just for some guy to plug in a modem.

http://www.vgchartz.com SuperChunk

But, do you have 4G LTE in your area or even coming soon?

Adam Siekmann

I agree for rural areas this may be nice if they get decent coverage. Although a lot of rural places like my girlfriends house doesn’t even have strong 3g so I doubt this will ever be an option there…oh how I hate going there

TC Infantino

Heh, you hate going there because of your girlfriend, or because of the crappy cell signal?

Deltaechoe

Wow, 10gb a month for HOME INTERNET?! Seriously verizon? The average consumer uses quite a bit more than that with streaming being the norm. I really can’t see anyone buying into this at all considering the price, I doubt the market will bear this one

http://thislink.tumblr.com/ aznphella

I use 3x the data cap just tethering one computer to my phone, how is 10GB going to work for 4 devices (or more wirelessly)?

Seanski

I would blow through that cap in like… one day. I only hope that they forgot a couple zeroes in the GB size otherwise this is the biggest gaffe since, well, this weekend with Rush Limbaugh.

Matthew Rosidivito

This came 25 days too early.

Bret

Uhhh… no… I’m enjoying my FiOS… 25 down… 5 up… no cap…

Bigup

More things to keep lowering the speed! Ill stick with my home internet. Just as fast if not fastet, an cheer.. nop cap either

Sqube

… wait, seriously?

AlexKCMO

Hows that for unauthorized software on their network….

Those arguments better stop holding up in court.

TC Infantino

Actually, the software would be in the $200 antenna they install in your house, and it would more likely be firmware. The software on your computer or other internet accessing devices has no effect on the 4G network. When VZW talks about unauthorized software on their network, they mean the software in rooted and ROMd phones, which does have the code in it to directly access the network.

if you’re in the midwest, look into WOW “Wide Open West” awesome company!

http://Twitter.com/ContestsAccount bigrob60

I already get that speed w/ no data cap all for less then what the want to sell it to me for.

SteveP

No way I’d ever consider this. 10 GB? so much for watching netflix!

Christopher Riner

This kind of stuff scares me. Verizon has the money from their cellular side to tamper with this kind of model with little extra expense, since they are going to keep working heavily on their 4g network anyways. Other companies will follow suit (by the looks of the comments, there already are– I didn’t even know there were people out there with data caps on their home lines) until everyone is doing it (just like with cell phones) and then the only people with unlimited data are the ones grandfathered in. I still have a year of college left, and I can only hope that I can start up a mortgage somewhere and get settled before this sh*t kicks in. Bc with data caps like that, My internet bill could get me a ferrari. If not for my unlimited wifi landline connection, I’d be giving verizon a thousand dollars a month for my data.

http://twitter.com/MrBouche MrBouche

$200 equipment fee? Uh… my phone has the capability to tether up to 8 devices wirelessly. Why do I need $200 in equipment when I may only have to pay $20 for wireless network adaptors? I’m not concerned that the internet would leave with me because I pay for it. That’s just touch cookies for anyone else.

Andrew Ross

It’s for the antenna they install which will pick up that 4G data connection far more reliably than your phone could hope for, and to offload the power burden as well.

I’m sorry, by assuming you know me, I concede to your authority as being king know-it-all. Don’t get too comfy in that crown!

TC Infantino

Yep, this actually is just the same as a Femtocell that many providers rent/sell and charge a monthly fee for. Well, except that it is working exactly the opposite, since it is using the cellular signal to provide broadband for the house, instead of using the houses broadband to provide a cellular signal.

FortitudineVincimus

So it looks like they are going to sell off some of that bandwidth they are saving by throttling top users. Amazing how they dont have enough to spare to those paying users, but enough to sell some to other users.

FU VZW

Mii

Not when I’m paying for FIOS, getting 25 down / 25 up for about 80$ a month unlimited.

Mii

Also my lat is normally in the teens or low 20’s, so going from that to the 130 – 300 lat range would not fly.

http://twitter.com/SGalaxyFan Phillip S.

I am paying $43 a month for my unlimited FIOS 25 down / 25 up!

summit1986

Better yet, I Wi-fi tether my Nexus and pay no more than my usual monthly fee with unlimited data.

http://twitter.com/LucasNJohnson Lucas Johnson

Compared to 80 bucks for 10GB with the mifi (i mean jetpacks), i’ll take it. This is only going to be good for people who can’t get anything else. While i would never pay for this, a lot of my customers who pay 80 a month for a little mobile hotspot would rather have this.

Liderc

This has to be a joke, 10GB?

I’m curious if anyone at Verizon even knows how to check how much data they’re using to determine a normal households data usage.

We use 10GB on our damn phones, what do they think we’ll use on our home computers.

http://twitter.com/FactsSchmacts Facts Schmacts

If a household is currently using dial-up or satellite, they’re not using near the amount of data that you are. That’s the market this service is aiming for.

Liderc

People still use dial up?

Aaa

Your current internet provider likely has a data cap, so the fact verizon have one is not surprising (yes, 10gb is weak). However, for home internet I currently pay $50 for 15-18mbps with a 50gb/mo cap, so why would I ever, ever do this…

http://www.vgchartz.com SuperChunk

I have never seen anyone in my region have a data cap on home internet.

Havoc70

Forget That, No way i would let VZ and their 4G Caps have my home Internet EVER!

I could see that happening, though to be fair when I originally heard about this and saw a pic they install an antenna on the house that looks sorta like a satellite dish. So it actually is a little more involved than just plugging a modem in. Though I do think this service is ridiculous because of the data cap.

Jsmastersaz

You should know that an antenna must be installed outside. Then a coax RG6 cable is routed to the desired outlet inside the home, It can somtimes be a real pain for an installer and other times relatively easy to pull the cable run. Attic work can be the worst. So believe me if its free, take it.

bobo

Clear is 4g, essentially the same service, unlimited data, $20 equipment with refurb modem, and is $35 / month.

I don’t say how Verizon would compete against their deal.

bobo

“I don’t see….” rather

Znibbor

I live in a part of the country where, for many, getting high speed internet access means using satellite internet, which is only marginally faster than 56k. Not only is satellite very slow, it’s expensive and also employs caps. Perhaps, people in this thread should realize not all consumers live in urban areas and not every product is targeted towards those users. This will be great for my area.

yanx206

I agree. I pay $110 for the hughesnet Power 200 which gets me speeds of 1.5 MB download and i have a cap of 450 MB per day. I have a Droid RAZR now but that has a 4gb data cap. This service is a great deal for me.

I-heart-Hanson

I get anywhere from 10 to 30mbps dl. An only 1 mbps upload on my home internet. Its like $40.a month, so 4g would be dumb for me. But theres no 4g by me yet. So for sure, umm bop bop bp doo bop dibby bop bop.. hanson

Eli San

You Can put a Mobile hotspot on your phone for $30 a month and its Unlimited.

http://twitter.com/danyay Dan

A mobile hotspot plan has never been unlimited, even when data plans were.

Eli San

They are now. It was $20 For 2 GB But now thats the 3g plan. The 4g Is $30 for unlimited. Call and see!

Dbs

The $30 unlimited is only if you have a unlimited data plan and a 4g phone.

Eric Payne

I work fora verizon retailer. The $30 hotspot plan with 4g is unlimited. End of story.

It is actually a pain in the ass cause verizon’s system doesn’t recognize it as possible to have unlimited causing the order to fail every time unless we call in to COOS to have it added.

Droid n00b

So what do I need to do to get the $30 unlimited hotspot plan? I currently have a 4GB data + 2GB hotspot plan.
Thanks!

MKader17

You get 4G but you don’t get high speed internet access?

Znibbor

Yes, this situation exists. My parents live outside of Rapid City, South Dakota (80,000). They get cell phone service at their house, but live on 25 acres of land. You think it’s profitable for the cable company to run fiber to their house?

yanx206

Yes. That’s correct. Is it that hard to believe? Cable companies aren’t everywhere.

MKader17

It’s not hard to believe, but I never thought it would be so prevalent that Verizon could make a business out of it. Most of what I’ve seen from LTE suggest that it covers a small area and service drops dramatically outside the area.

Sucks for these people to pay those prices, but if that is better than what they can get then that’s great for them.

http://twitter.com/FactsSchmacts Facts Schmacts

There’s a county just to the north of me, in southern VA, that has 4g service already, but there are LOTS of places in that county where it would be extremely expensive to have cable run. 690 sq. miles of land, 56k people. This would definitely make sense there.

There’s one provider HomeFusion competes well
with, of course: HughesNet. HughesNet is the much-beloved, much-despised
satellite Internet system people in deep rural America use, and it
charges high rates for low data caps because of the inherent high cost
of satellite connections. Verizon is describing HomeFusion as a product
for cities and suburbs, though, not for deep rural areas.

Jim

Also agree but a 10gb cap is crazy. Currently live in a rural area that doesn’t have dsl/cable as an option so instead use a sprint 3g card for internet access. It’s slow but a lot cheaper than satellite and actually near the same speed but most importantly without a data cap. I think it would take less than a week to get through 10gb even with the slower 3g speeds.

Adam Metzner

You don’t have hard wire internet in your area of any kind? What makes you think that Verizon will ever put 4G where you are at? Do you even have 3G now?

CaptainHowdy13

I used 500GB of my 250GB cap with comcast last month. This isnt for me…

http://www.adamalter.com/ Adam Alter

OH BOY, does it come bundled with outages and a horrible ping (for gamers)?

Jeremy Turnley

Outages, yes. Ping times, meh. I got 50-75ms when I tried it.

Robsmith Nikon

Sounds like the death nell of unlimited home internet. The cable companies will love the idea of capping us with a “HUGE” 20gb… MORE THAN DOUBLE THE COMPETITION!! The future of the internet is looking bleak.

7 62

They better cut that cost down by 3/4ths with that kind of cap lol. That’s the last thing I’d want to do is start having to keep up with data usage at home like I do with my cell.

Michael Franz

yea no….

Considering Fios wired connection is just as fast, and cheaper, i dont liek this at all, big fail.

This is a horrible option unless you have no other choices. NO WAY I would pay that much for a capped internet plan. 10 gig? you gotta be kidding me….

Screw you Verizon.

Unexpected62

10 GB limit for $60?!?!?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh wait, they’re serious? O_O

Riley_V

About a year ago when Verizon was talking about this I thought they were kidding. Someone from Verizon was talking about how 4g was going to make the need for landlines ISP’s go away

Your reaction was about the same as mine back then.

4g is tolerable for cell phones, and it has high up and down speeds, but the latency is too high for any gaming or streaming.

waveGuide3e8

I’ve played COD on my PS3 using the 4G on my Galaxy Nexus. Less than 50ms for ping, and the gaming was lag free.

Noyfb

Who is this suppose to entice? Not for gamers or people that stream videos, tv, movies… and then added to a household of 3 or more people, no way they’ll stay under 10 gigs. They must be out of there Gd dam minds.

Deltaechoe

Actually they latency is well within the range of acceptable in most 4g saturated areas. If you’re in a fringe area, this obviously isn’t going to hold true but I game with my cell phone quite frequently and have less issues with lag than I do using my home wifi (I know, hard to believe)

TC Infantino

I agree. When I am in a quality 4G area my speeds are actually faster than what I get at home over wi-fi connected to FiOS. The problem is that those people who have a hard time getting broadband in their area, whether from a cable provider, DSL, or FiOS, are usually also in an area that doesn’t yet have strong 4G signal. If Verizon actually will put up more towers to blanket more rural areas with 4G signal, then I can see it as a good alternative to just having dial-up. But I cannot see it as competative vs. standard broadband choices, if the customer has those choices.

AlexKCMO

Considering the only other competitor with a cap is 250 GB (Comcast), they must be crazy.

Here’s your market research Verizon… NO!

feztheforeigner

Installation fee on top of that? What exactly are they installing?

docmars

My thoughts exactly. They’re not even going to compete with Clearwire, who offers unthrottled, uncapped 4G service for $50 /mo. Please…

moelsen8

No.

http://FB.com/AndroidTaskForce Chris Gustafson

This is primarily for rural customers, an alternative to satellite and dial-up.

“The solution will offer households in areas with limited broadband options a reliable alternative for data connectivity in their homes.”

EC8CH

who aren’t savvy enough to tether their unlimited 4G cell phone ;-P

bakdroid

Who won’t have 4G for another year.

http://FB.com/AndroidTaskForce Chris Gustafson

There are a lot of rural areas with LTE already.

summit1986

Not where I am…

TC Infantino

I hope they get to where I live, and soon. Not saying that I don’t have broadband options at home, but my cellular signal is poor, and it is 3G. I live about 25 minutes from Harrisburg, PA where I work and get a very strong 4G connection. VZW needs to build out more towers and soon.

duke69111

according to the above post by
AlexKCMO with and article from pcmagazine.. its not.

http://profiles.google.com/cvananden Chris VanAnden

Why would I bother doing this when I have no data cap with Verizon Fios and just as fast if not a faster connection…oh and it costs me $90 a month to have my tv included with that.

I guess this is only something people consider if they’re out of market for a decent internet provider?

Adam Skillings

lol 10GB a month
i used 10GB yesterday downloading a game on steam

kretz7

Who comes up with these horrible ideas and thinks they’ll be successful?

duke69111

Monkeys who are whacked out on weed and coke.

http://Twitter.com/ContestsAccount bigrob60

More like coke and huffing paint. I’ve never thought or heard of and idea the directly screws people out of their money while on weed.

http://twitter.com/FactsSchmacts Facts Schmacts

People who live outside of cable service areas, maybe? Just because you have access to high speed Internet by other means doesn’t mean everyone else does.

bakdroid

Hell no! Even Comcast is better than this! You can pay that much and get 250GB, 25Mbps down and 4 Mbps up. Verizon is smoking some of the good stuff if they think people will actually pay for this.

Keithsmnr

I will do you one better! I use WOW internet services. 30mbps DOWN, 3mbsp UP. NO BANDWIDTH LIMIT OR CAP! It’s part of our TV/phone/internet package I think it’s 100 a month for all three.

Comcast sucks.

Keithsmnrisanidiot

You suck

TC Infantino

While I agree with you about Comcast, they are greedy monopolistic pricks, this service can help those who cannot get broadband any other way. I live on 25 acres that is exactly between two towns that are less than 20 minutes apart, all our neighbors who live right by the street can get cable, but since we have a very long driveway, the cable company refused to run the cable back to our place. We were stuck with satallite until just a couple of years ago when Verizon offered to fun FiOS out to us. And the worst part is that we are not anywhere near as rural as alot of people are who are stuck with no real broadband internet. This service can be good, at least for those who are unable to get broadband any other way.

Keithsmnr

NO THANK YOU!

http://www.facebook.com/bhaxprime Ben Hackney

Kind of steep…don’t know who would pay that, when your equivalent broadband is $20 cheaper with no $200 equipment fee, and no limits. And any area covered by 4G is going to have robust selection of broadband carriers.

NorCalGuy

Good at cell phones horrible at home internet… stick with what your good at and don’t go spreading a network that you are still expanding as well as still having issues with dropping the entire network.

Billy

Stupid. My internet is faster, cheaper and unlimited.

Gabba

10GB? Really? That’s one game downloaded from Steam, or a few hours of Team Fortress 2.

Hell no; if I’m gonna pay more than $50 just for internet, might as well get cable or FiOS and stream as much as I want

http://profiles.google.com/jtsurf18 Jason Downing

not at all.. Verizon has Fios and it happens to be avail in my area. 25 down and 15 up for the same price or cheaper with NO cap? YUP!

htowngtr

Not everyone gets FIOS (:sadface:) and if you didn’t want to deal with a cable provider for internet this is the next best thing.

http://profiles.google.com/jtsurf18 Jason Downing

well that’s what I said it happens to be avail in MY area. I still rather go with a cable provider (even though they suck) than pay $60/mo for 10GB cap…

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